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Norm Morrow’s UW Career Defines ‘Pioneer’

February 24, 2014 — If anyone deserves the designation of “pioneer” in the field
of improved oil recovery (IOR), it is University of Wyoming Professor Norman
Morrow, whose work in developing low-salinity flooding to unlock the secrets of
oil and gas reservoirs and subsurface processes is appreciated and applied
throughout the world.

Morrow, the Wold Chair of Energy in the UW Department of
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, recently was overwhelmingly selected to
receive the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ IOR Pioneer Award.

The award recognizes and expresses special appreciation to
individuals who have pioneered and made significant advancement in the
technology for improving oil recovery, says Dwight Dauben, chairman of the 2014
Pioneer Awards Committee. He says nominees must be involved in and enjoy
industry recognition for their involvement in one or more phases of IOR
activity, and generally have established two to four decades of their careers
to the development and application of leading-edge technology designed to
increase recovery from older oil fields.

“The description of IOR Pioneer could hardly fit anyone or
any situation more aptly than Professor Morrow’s role in the development of
low-salinity flooding for IOR,” wrote William R. Rossen, professor of reservoir
engineering and head of the petroleum section in the Department of Geoscience
and Engineering at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands.

The field of-low salinity flooding was unknown before Morrow
and his students published a series of papers in the late 1990s, Rossen says.
He adds that the field now is the subject of intensive research as well as
application.

“My impression is that most major integrated oil companies
are investigating or implementing this approach,” Rossen says.

Morrow, the only UW engineering professor ever elected to
the National Academy of Engineering, has long been regarded as one of the
world’s leading experts on wettability, noted another colleague, Don W. Green,
University of Kansas emeritus distinguished professor.

“His research has focused on understanding of basic
phenomena that affect oil displacement and recovery by improved oil recovery
processes at the pore-scale level,” Green says. “Phenomena studied include wettability
and capillarity, structure of residual oil saturation, effects of interfacial
tension on displacement, wettability and contact angles, mobilization of
residual oil, and correlation of the capillary number with residual oil, among
others.”

Green points to the financial support given to Morrow’s
research group by several major companies over several decades: “Much of this
funding has been unrestricted, indicating a high level of respect for his
work,” he says.

While noting appreciation for the recognition of his
colleagues, Morrow says much more needs to be accomplished.

“There is much room for improved fundamental understanding
of waterflooding and spontaneous imbibition and how these processes relate to
most other IOR processes,” Morrow says. His newest UW patented IOR technique,
Sequential Waterflooding, is currently being tested in the Wyoming Osage oil field
concurrently with laboratory studies at UW for this field.

He also would like to see a return to form for basic
research and development in the oil and gas industry.

“The high current level of IOR and enhanced oil recovery
activity justifies the re-establishment of more industry laboratories
comparable to the numerous renowned production research laboratories of former
times,” Morrow says.

Morrow joined UW in 1992 as professor in the petroleum
engineering department and Distinguished Scientist at WRI. He was appointed to
the John and Jane Wold Chair of Energy in 2004.

His research covers a wide range of topics with special
emphasis on understanding crude oil/brine/rock interactions, especially with
respect to the effect of wettability on oil recovery. Morrow founded a biennial
international conference on reservoir wettability in the 1990s, which has been
held in eight countries up to now. He has 185 publications and four patents
resulting from his research.

He was a Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) distinguished
lecturer and twice an SPE distinguished author, and has served numerous
journals in various capacities from reviewer to chairman of the editorial
board.

In 1996, Morrow received the Society of Core Analysts
Technical Achievement Award. He was elected to the Russian Academy of Natural
Sciences in 1999 and awarded the Kapitsa Gold Medal of Honor. In 2001, he was
elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering.

In addition to numerous best papers, national and
international awards, and honorary professorships, Morrow has been recognized
by UW through the J.E. Warren Distinguished Professorship in 1999; the 2000
Award for Excellence in Internationalization; the 2001 Presidential Award for
Research; the 2006 Presidential Faculty Achievement Award; the 2007
Distinguished Graduate Faculty Mentor Award; and the 2007 College of
Engineering Sam Hakes Graduate Teaching and Research Award.

Photo:UW Professor Norm Morrow, long regarded as one of the
world’s leading experts on wettability, was honored for his career
contributions in the field of improved oil recovery. (UW Photo)